Portable apparatuses including portable electronic apparatuses such as cellular phones and other portable communication terminals are equipped with straps for hanging and supporting the main bodies of the apparatuses. Straps may include various devices for both functional and design purposes. Such a strap may be attached to the casing of an apparatus through a through hole that is formed in the casing by integrally molding, but with problems in terms of miniaturization, low profile, and resin moldability. It has thus been common practice to prepare a strap holder (hereinafter, also referred to simply as “holder”) having a through hole as an additional part and attach the part to the casing. If the casing is substantially rectangular in shape, attaching the strap holder to a corner of the casing facilitates pulling the apparatus body out of a pocket or bag without much interference. This is also preferable in terms of miniaturization, low profile, and appearance of the portable apparatus.
JP-A-05-191057 [Patent Document 1] discloses an example of a portable apparatus in which a strap holder is attached to a corner of the casing. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the portable apparatus described in Patent Document 1, having a strap holder attached to its casing.
In FIG. 7, an upper casing 101 and a lower casing 102 are assembled with a printed circuit board 103 interposed therebetween. A strap holder 106 is composed of a protruding section 108 having a hole 108a, and a fitting section 107 having a fitting hole 107a. The apparatus body of substantially rectangular shape formed by the upper casing 101 and the lower casing 102 has an opening 102a in a corner, where a screw 109 is inserted into a through hole 104a in a protrusion 104 of the lower casing 102 and threadedly engaged with a screw hole in a protrusion 105 of the upper casing 101 via the fitting hole 107a of the strap holder 106. The strap holder 106 is thereby fixed to the casing.
Now, widespread models of portable apparatuses have a casing on which operation keys are arranged and another casing on which a screen for display such as liquid crystal display is arranged, the casings being rotatably assembled via a hinge. Such clamshell folding portable apparatuses have been made low profile recently, with limited locations to attach a strap to. When attaching a strap holder to a corner of the casing of a clamshell folding portable apparatus, it is advantageous to attach the strap holder structurally to a hinge cylinder section (hinge section) of the casing, which has a relatively large thickness in shape.
In Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-244827 filed with Japan Patent Office prior to Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-28056 which is the basic application of the priority claimed in this application, the applicant proposed to fix a strap holder part to a hinge section by using a pin. Note that Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-244827 is the basic application of the priority claimed in International Application PCT/JP2006/316480, and International Application PCT/JP2006/316480 was internationally published under WO 2007/023848 [Patent Document 2] after the filing date of Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-28056.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the strap attaching section according to Patent Document 2, where FIG. 8(a) is an exploded perspective view, FIG. 8(b) is a top view, and FIG. 8(c) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line C-C of FIG. 8(b).
In FIGS. 8(a) to 8(c), the clamshell folding portable apparatus has a first casing (hereinafter, referred to simply as “casing”) 1 and a cover 3 to be attached thereto. The portable apparatus also has a second casing (not shown) to be attached to the first casing via a hinge. The strap attaching section lies in a hinge cylinder section that constitutes the hinge for coupling the two casings. A strap holder 4 is accommodated in a recess 11 which is formed in the hinge cylinder section of the casing 1. A straight-shaped pin 5′, which functions as a retaining pin of the holder 4, is inserted into a pin path 18′ which is formed in the hinge cylinder section of the casing 1, a first pin hole 44 which is formed in the holder 4, and a pin recess 19 which is formed in the hinge cylinder section of the casing 1. The holder 4 and the pin 5′ are thereby locked by the pin path 18′ and the pin recess 19. The cover 3, which also functions as a retainer of the pin 5′, is attached to the casing 1 with a screw 6. This configuration fixes the holder 4 with the pin 5′ so as not to come out of the casing 1.
This strap attaching section can provide a sufficient strength even in smaller size, has excellent designability, and facilitates assembly because of the pin fixation.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-05-191057    Patent Document 2: WO 2007/023848